Esiteli Hafoka

Bio

'Esiteli Hafoka received her PhD and MA in Religious Studies from Stanford University, and her BA in Religious Studies and Ancient History from UC Riverside. Her research introduces a novel theoretical approach, Angafakafonua as Tongan epistemology, to understand Tongan collective identity in America. Her dissertation identifies religious threads connecting 19th c. Methodist Christianity, Mormonism, Tongan Crip Gang members in Utah, and sacred education spaces to reveal the ways Tongans navigate their racial identity in America through a religious epistemology. She has co-authored a chapter with Finau Sina Tovo titled, "Mana as Sacred Space: A Talanoa of Tongan American College Students in a Pacific Studies Learning Community Classroom" in Disciplinary Futures: Sociology in Conversation with American, Ethnic, and Indigenous Studies, NYU Press 2023.

'Esiteli is the proud daughter of Taniela and Latufuipeka (Hala'ufia) Hafoka, wife of Va'inga Uhamaka, and mother of Sinakilea and Latufuipeka.

Academic Appointments

• Lecturer, Stanford Introductory Studies - Civic, Liberal, and Global Education

Boards, Advisory Committees, Professional Organizations

• Member, AAR (2015 - Present)
• Executive Board Member, Vakatasi (2018 - Present)
• Programming Committee Member, Mormon History Association (2020 - 2020)
• Programming Committee, Mormon Studies Unit at AAR (2021 - 2021)
• Executive Board Member, Tongan Global Scholars Network (2021 - Present)